Music and movies of a Malayalee-Otaku
Sticking to one genre of media is restricting

Whenever I’m with a group of friends, listening to music, I always hesitate to add my own songs to the queue because I have a very particular playlist. Less than 10% of my songs in my playlists are in English—or what I consider to be “appropriate” to play to my friends here.

The majority of my playlists consist of a large amount of anime opening and ending themes that you just don’t listen to with someone who is not an otaku (a person interested in Japanese culture and media consumption). A good quarter of my songs are Indian, ranging from Malayalam to Hindi to Tamil, which you can’t just spring to a Western listener.

My playlist represents the unique cultures I deal with: the Western world I live and work in, the Japanese anime I love to watch, and the Indian heritage I grew up with and enjoy. Each of these cultures influenced my own taste in media, and redefined what it means to me for art to be a “classic.” 

Malayalam Movies and ജീവിത ഗാന്ധി

When it comes to movies, I strongly prefer Malayalam movies over any other genre. I will admit that this mainly stems from the fact that I mostly watched Indian films throughout my childhood. Of course, there was the occasional Disney film or Spiderman film here or there, but my diet of movies was mainly Malayalam.

And, I want to make it very clear to you that I am not talking about Indian movies in general, but Malayalam movies to be specific. There is a very distinct difference between Mollywood (Malayalam film industry) and Bollywood.

Bollywood is characterized by glamour, over-exaggerated acts,, large dance sequences, colour, and a general flashiness. Mollywood is a lot more subtle and down to earth. 

But, while Mollywood movies can sometimes take on exaggerated plots and tropes—like a protagonist fighting multiple people off at once and choreographed dance sequences—the films often focus on ജീവിത ഗാന്ധി (the smell of reality). In Malayalam films, stories of the “common” man are captured: the problems he undergoes, the conflicts he finds himself in, and how he resolves it.

A film that particularly speaks to this idea is Premam, a romantic drama where we see the protagonist falling in love with three different people over the course of his life. It’s not a dramatic or life changing plotline, but it’s filled with small moments of humanity. The characters are genuine and the emotions they convey are both relatable and poignant.

Maybe my preference stems from the fact that I am culturally a Malayalee. The subtle, dry wit in Mollywood matches my own, and I can see people with the same faces and languages as mine tackle different problems. Maybe it’s also because I don’t indulge in many Western classics. But to me, Malayalam films are the epitome of cinema.

For anyone interested in ജീവിത ഗാന്ധി in Mollywood, I recommend some of my personal favorites: Maheshinte Prathikaaram (2016), Meleparambil Aanveedu (1993), Manasinakkare (2003), and Snehaveedu (2011).

Music: The Poetry of India to the Energy of Anime

For the longest time, I firmly thought that English music was bad and Indian music was simply better. The issue mainly stemmed from the fact that I could actually understand the English lyrics, as opposed to the Indian lyrics. Even for Malayalam songs, the lyrics often use high-brow vocabulary that I can’t fully parse.

But English songs, which I could understand the lyrics, I would often decipher the implicit sexual messages, and it would put me off when I was a kid. Or, I would listen to whatever was popular, like rap and which definitely wasn’t my taste.

Now, I like to believe that my thinking has evolved a bit more, being able to accept music that can be good regardless of language. I’m still picky with English songs, but I have discovered some that I’ve liked: Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams, I’m Doing Fine by Marino, and Payphone by Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa.

However, a large part of me still relates more to Indian music–by which I mean Indian film songs. I feel that, at least compared to (my limited knowledge of) Western music, Indian music is more poetic. But the songs transform the poetry, connecting each verse with beautiful melodies. 

I don’t have nearly enough understanding about song theory to describe why Indian songs are good. But, the best Indian songs sound like poetry drizzled in golden honey. 

The songs I believe exemplify this the most are Amruthamayi Abhayamayi by Hariharan and Illyaraja from the Snehaveedu soundtrack, Pavizham Pol by K.J. Yesudas from the Namukku Parkam Munthiri Thoppukal soundtrack and Puthumazhayay Pozhiyam by M.G. Sreekumar in the Mudra soundtrack.

And a large part of my playlist is chiefly anime opening and ending theme songs. In fact, it was anime that got me into listening to songs regularly. I started to want to listen to a few openings regularly, and I started compiling them, and eventually it became a playlist.

I think one aspect that helped me like anime songs may be due to the fact that I don’t understand the lyrics at all. So, I purely go off how the songs sound, and it hasn’t served me wrong since. I think what mainly attracts me to anime theme songs is that they are energetic, and it motivates me to get off my chair and do something. Some of my favorite songs in that regard are V.I.P  by SID (first opening to Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic) and Youthful by the 99 Radio Service (first opening to Chihayafuru). 

I’ve also recently taken an interest in Japanese jazz. After enjoying some of the pieces in Sakamichi no Apollon (a really good jazz-anime recommendation), I started exploring jazz. Curiously enough, I didn’t feel too much from American jazz, but I’ve been enjoying a lot of Japanese jazz bands. In particular, I found a project called All That Jazz that provides jazz renditions of some popular anime openings and Studio Ghibli Soundtracks, which are amazing!

What is good is good!

At the start of the writing process, I pondered on what “classic” media was to me. Now, I know that whatever is good…is good! My favourite media pieces might not be consistent with everyone else’s taste, but that is okay. 

I think that the concept of having a certain set of “classics” is restricting. After all, you don’t need a reason to like something; you just end up liking it anyways.